Sexing Chicks

[familyfarm1]

I know you cant really tell if a chick is a boy or a girl unless it is a Sex Link, but I was wondering if boys tend to be darker/bigger/more active. Insight on any breed would be great! I'm mostly curious

I'm sorry for the stupid questions

 

[Lady of McCamley]

You really need to narrow down the breeds in particular as each tends to be unique as to development.

For example, Speckled Sussex, the boys tend to be lankier and feather much more slowly than the girls who are more of a tear drop shape and feather in sooner.

Buckeyes, the boys grow much faster and get much bigger than the girls long before the secondary sex feathers set in.

Marans, the boys show red and large combs pretty early telecasting their gender.

Production Reds/Hatchery RIR's, the boys get large red combs early, and feather a bit more slowly than the girls.

Barred Rocks...not 100% accurate, especially in hatchery stock, but the girls will have a tight head spot and black wash down their legs. They will be noticeably darker as they feather in as they have only 1 barring gene. The boys have a more diffuse head spot and no dark wash down their legs. They will feather in more silvery looking as they have a double barring. HOWEVER, those are just rules of thumb as many hatchery stock don't quite follow the rules as they have been bred for fast and early layers which can skew how things add up. Also it is very hard to see one barred bird and know if that is double barring or single if you don't have another of the same breed to look at.

Buff Orps are notoriously difficult so are Silkies.

Then of course you have your auto-sexing breeds like Welsummers (girls are chipmunks with crisp head "v's" and eyeliners while the boys are "fuzzier" colored and less crisp) and Rhodebars (boys have the barring head spot while the girls are chipmunks).

For the non-sexing breeds, boys tend to be more boisterous and grow bigger and feather slower...BUT I've had plenty of hens that were snotty when young, and I once gave away a good laying hen thinking she was a roo. She turned out to be a precocious girl who laid at 14 weeks!

For all around determination, it is usually best to watch the comb as *most* roo's develop faster in the comb area....which doesn't help in very young chicks.

For the breeds that have wild type coloring, the chipmunk chicks, the chicks that have stripes that go from the head down the neck through the back in continuous line tend to be girls. The boys tend to have pattern breaks especially at the neck. Girls are in tri-color stripes and the boys in double color stripes (or that may be reversed...sorry it's been awhile)....but the girls supposedly have the darker stripes that are continuous. I used that with EE's and did manage to get 2 girls.

EE's juvenile and adult coloring helps as several patterns are typically gender related...the gold/brown partridge is almost always a girl while the black/white pattern is almost always a boy.

That's about all I can say on the subject. Remember ANY method will be at least 50% accurate unless you have a sex-linked or auto-sexing breed.

Lady of McCamley

 

[BantamLover21]

You really need to narrow down the breeds in particular as each tends to be unique as to development.

For example, Speckled Sussex, the boys tend to be lankier and feather much more slowly than the girls who are more of a tear drop shape and feather in sooner.

Buckeyes, the boys grow much faster and get much bigger than the girls long before the secondary sex feathers set in.

Marans, the boys show red and large combs pretty early telecasting their gender.

Production Reds/Hatchery RIR's, the boys get large red combs early, and feather a bit more slowly than the girls.

Barred Rocks...not 100% accurate, especially in hatchery stock, but the girls will have a tight head spot and black wash down their legs. They will be noticeably darker as they feather in as they have only 1 barring gene. The boys have a more diffuse head spot and no dark wash down their legs. They will feather in more silvery looking as they have a double barring. HOWEVER, those are just rules of thumb as many hatchery stock don't quite follow the rules as they have been bred for fast and early layers which can skew how things add up. Also it is very hard to see one barred bird and know if that is double barring or single if you don't have another of the same breed to look at.

Buff Orps are notoriously difficult so are Silkies.

Then of course you have your auto-sexing breeds like Welsummers (girls are chipmunks with crisp head "v's" and eyeliners while the boys are "fuzzier" colored and less crisp) and Rhodebars (boys have the barring head spot while the girls are chipmunks).

For the non-sexing breeds, boys tend to be more boisterous and grow bigger and feather slower...BUT I've had plenty of hens that were snotty when young, and I once gave away a good laying hen thinking she was a roo. She turned out to be a precocious girl who laid at 14 weeks!

For all around determination, it is usually best to watch the comb as *most* roo's develop faster in the comb area....which doesn't help in very young chicks.

For the breeds that have wild type coloring, the chipmunk chicks, the chicks that have stripes that go from the head down the neck through the back in continuous line tend to be girls. The boys tend to have pattern breaks especially at the neck. Girls are in tri-color stripes and the boys in double color stripes (or that may be reversed...sorry it's been awhile)....but the girls supposedly have the darker stripes that are continuous. I used that with EE's and did manage to get 2 girls.

EE's juvenile and adult coloring helps as several patterns are typically gender related...the gold/brown partridge is almost always a girl while the black/white pattern is almost always a boy.

That's about all I can say on the subject. Remember ANY method will be at least 50% accurate unless you have a sex-linked or auto-sexing breed.

Lady of McCamley

x2 on this advice.

 

[Michael OShay]

You really need to narrow down the breeds in particular as each tends to be unique as to development.

For example, Speckled Sussex, the boys tend to be lankier and feather much more slowly than the girls who are more of a tear drop shape and feather in sooner.

Buckeyes, the boys grow much faster and get much bigger than the girls long before the secondary sex feathers set in.

Marans, the boys show red and large combs pretty early telecasting their gender.

Production Reds/Hatchery RIR's, the boys get large red combs early, and feather a bit more slowly than the girls.

Barred Rocks...not 100% accurate, especially in hatchery stock, but the girls will have a tight head spot and black wash down their legs. They will be noticeably darker as they feather in as they have only 1 barring gene. The boys have a more diffuse head spot and no dark wash down their legs. They will feather in more silvery looking as they have a double barring. HOWEVER, those are just rules of thumb as many hatchery stock don't quite follow the rules as they have been bred for fast and early layers which can skew how things add up. Also it is very hard to see one barred bird and know if that is double barring or single if you don't have another of the same breed to look at.

Buff Orps are notoriously difficult so are Silkies.

Then of course you have your auto-sexing breeds like Welsummers (girls are chipmunks with crisp head "v's" and eyeliners while the boys are "fuzzier" colored and less crisp) and Rhodebars (boys have the barring head spot while the girls are chipmunks).

For the non-sexing breeds, boys tend to be more boisterous and grow bigger and feather slower...BUT I've had plenty of hens that were snotty when young, and I once gave away a good laying hen thinking she was a roo. She turned out to be a precocious girl who laid at 14 weeks!

For all around determination, it is usually best to watch the comb as *most* roo's develop faster in the comb area....which doesn't help in very young chicks.

For the breeds that have wild type coloring, the chipmunk chicks, the chicks that have stripes that go from the head down the neck through the back in continuous line tend to be girls. The boys tend to have pattern breaks especially at the neck. Girls are in tri-color stripes and the boys in double color stripes (or that may be reversed...sorry it's been awhile)....but the girls supposedly have the darker stripes that are continuous. I used that with EE's and did manage to get 2 girls.

EE's juvenile and adult coloring helps as several patterns are typically gender related...the gold/brown partridge is almost always a girl while the black/white pattern is almost always a boy.

That's about all I can say on the subject. Remember ANY method will be at least 50% accurate unless you have a sex-linked or auto-sexing breed.

Lady of McCamley

Lady of McCamley has done a great job answering your question.

 

[familyfarm1]

Thank you so much for your feed back